View from the Edge
A New Picture of American Families
by Craig Kennet Miller, director of new congregational development, General Board of Discipleship

The Urban Institute has just released a new study of more than 44,000 families. This study reveals some vital information. To see the study, click on the Snapshots of American Families. Some of the data is quite revealing.

For example, although thirty-two percent of children in the U.S. were born outside of marriage, only eighteen percent actually live with an unmarried single parent -- because fourteen percent of the unmarried women marry the fathers after their babies arrive.

In my research on the Millennial Generation (those in the eleventh grade and under), I found that thirty percent were born outside of marriage,thirty-five percent of them will go through their parents' divorce, and another thirty-five percent will stay with both parents until the age of eighteen.

Sixty-two percent of Postmoderns (those born from 1965-1981) have parents who were married; fifteen percent have parents who have divorced; fourteen percent have one parent who has remarried; five percent have parents who are separated; and three percent have parents who have never married. One percent of Postmoderns' parents were widowed.

The Urban Institute report puts a different spin on this data by reporting that eighteen percent of children live with an unmarried parent, while eighty-two percent of children are born within marriage. This eighty-two percent takes into account those fourteen percent of women who had a child before marriage but later married the fathers.

The Urban Institute report gives us this picture of the American family: sixty-three percent of children live with two parents; twenty-seven percent live with one-parent; eight percent live in a blended family; and three percent live with no parent.

The contrast of the Urban Institute's report with the data in Postmoderns (Discipleship Resources — OUT OF PRINT) is interesting. Both reports have similar percentages for children living with both parents (63 percent and 62 percent). the percentage of those living with a never-married parent is much higher in the Urban Institute report: eighteen percent versus three percent. Because Postmoderns were in high school and above when they were surveyed for my book, we can see the impact of divorce during their years under age eighteen. We can expect that a large number of the eighteen percent "never-married" adults will get married as their children grow older.

If the parents of Millennials (those born from 1982 to 1999) experience the same rates of divorce and separation as the parents of Postmoderns, we can expect a dramatic drop -- to around forty-seven percent -- in the number of children who are being raised by two parents.

With this data, we can adjust the picture of what is happening in families by saying the following: Eighteen percent of children live with an unmarried parent; thirty-five percent will go through their parents' divorce; and forty-seven percent will stay with both parents until they reach the age of eighteen.

Clearly, Millennials live in family systems that are in a high state of flux. They will see many changes in family life as they go through their childhood and youth.

What is significant about this is that Millennials are a much larger generation than the Postmoderns. The challenge for the church is how we will minister to the needs of children and families who will be experiencing so much change.

The Urban Institute also has interesting data about parents' involvement in religious activities. The report cites the following: fifty-nine percent of parents said that they participated in a religious activity at least a couple of times a month. What's especially interesting is the geographic differences. Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Minnesota, and Wisconsin were each over sixty percent; the states on both coasts were lower; and the state of Washington was the lowest at forty-nine percent.

One other set of data is worth considering. Today, the poverty rate for children is twenty percent. Eleven percent of two-parent families live below the poverty line, while forty-four percent of one-parent families live below the poverty line. These statistics are significant because children living in families whose incomes fall below the poverty line have doubled since 1960.

The Urban Institute's report concludes that the health and stability of a child's life is greatly enhanced when he or she lives in a two-parent family. Churches can partner with government agencies and schools to facilitate children being raised in stable and healthy family environments.

Be sure to take a look at The Urban Institute report. It's a great resource to help you and your church examine the current state of children in America.